EDI in Scottish Heritage

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The fellowship offers a unique opportunity to engage with some of Scotland's largest and most influential heritage organisations on a topic with heightened visibility in public discourse about heritage, but near invisibility in sector's workforce. The recent public engagement with the Black Lives Matter movement has forced many of us to consider race in a more meaningful way. Too often this is side-lined because the discussions are uncomfortable and at times the terminology and expression of related issues is unfamiliar, but it is a reality that cannot be ignored or overlooked any more. If we fail to confront the issues facing us, we will do lasting disservice to the communities in which we live. Serious and problematic questions have been asked about the foundations of the society we live in; the people we choose to commemorate and why; and what we can do. We cannot change the past, but we can change our understanding of the past and what aspects of that past we choose to celebrate, commemorate, or even simply acknowledge. This goes far beyond race as it intersects also with issues of gender and class and asks further uncomfortable questions about what we perceive to be heritage in the Scottish context? Do we prioritise the medieval past, glorying in castles, kings and queens, while ignoring the industrial landscape and heritage of coalmines? Why do we still feel it necessary to remember Henry Dundas with a statue, an individual whose 'gradualist' move towards support for the abolition of slavery enabled his colleagues in the West Indies to shore up their financial position in the face of such change? At what point will the Heritage industry acknowledge fully the legacy of trans-Atlantic slavery in Scotland; or the working-class areas of Scotland that shaped the Industrial Revolution? This fellowship will work from the inside out by engaging with some of the key organisations involved in decision making about heritage in Scotland.